Thanks for the wonderful writeup. The prolonged exposure to the cold finally did in our kid (the wait at Burma Superstar was over an hour), so we will have to stay in tomorrow. If things look better, I’ll be sure to try one of your recommendations. We should have visited Acme at the Ferry Building. I have to say, the Ferry Building had solid offerings strewn throughout the tourist traps.
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I would recommend Cheeseboard Collective for pizza over Giola if i was in the east Bay only because of special interest. They won some award for best pizza in the us. And you can’t be a picky eater the.
CB is harder to park near, and giola probably has better slices. But CB has the buzz right now 
On a related note (east bay fast casual trendy), i really liked hotboys chicken in Oakland this weekend. It achieved the rich deep spice of nashville hot chicken, and i (spice lover) found the medium to be well balanced and not too spicy. The dark chicken patty was… Interesting. Moist, for certain. Partner, who has an aversion to slaw, said the chicken was too far out of balance, which i could see, the slaw is kinda necessary.
Outdoor seating only was rough in the wind. We escaped over to van kleef for a drink while waiting for our food, which was perfect. It is nice that some places don’t change.
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The wait at Burma Superstar in Oakland was over an hour on a Tuesday evening. Coupled with their prices, I can’t say the meal was worth it. But I’ve had Burmese food so few times in my life, so no regrets.
Platha & Dip, good except it was room temp. Finished the sauce later during the meal with rice.
Spicy Noodles (chicken), a comforting dish, nothing really popped out.
Traditional Burmese Hot Milk Tea, the condensed milk type thing wasn’t for me.
Thai Iced Tea was fine.
Samusa Salad, great. Like chaat meets Som Tum.
Garlic & Chili Shrimp, inedible. There must have been a mistake made in the kitchen. Tasted of burnt aromatics as well as misuse of spices.
Chicken with Fresh Mint, good. Reminded me of chicken with basil, the ground chicken version of that.
Yellow Bean Tofu, interesting. I tasted ginger. Not sure how I feel. We finished it. I think maybe it didn’t go well with the rest of the meal.
Coconut Rice, standout. I know it’s just rice, and it wasn’t technically flawless, but could not stop eating it.
Sadly, staff informed us the Tea Leaf Salad has been unavailable for many months.
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Sorry you had such a disappointing experience – next time, I (very highly) recommend Burmese kitchen at second Ave and Geary. A lot of people like Mandalay, too, but I personally don’t think it’s as good as BK.
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I wouldn’t say disappointing, just below expectations. I think it’s very difficult for others, even most “foodies”, to understand our (HO users’) fanaticism. Instagramability and popularity, often even service, take a back seat. Great food trumps all. A couple doors down was a jun (jeon) specialist. Looked really good to me, but our host was partial to Bowl’d. To avoid civil dispute, we just stuck with Superstar.
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The pictures look nice though.
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That’s absolutely fair, and I echo your feelings re: others having difficulty understanding our “fanaticism.” There also seem to be fewer opportunities to spend quality time with good friends than to have good meals. Agreed with @Chemicalkinetics , very nice pictures!
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After Superstar, we headed to Fentons. I see the appeal, but it wasn’t for us. We immediately backtracked to Curbside Creamery, which we had scoped out on the way to Burma Superstar.
The matcha soft-serve was mildly sweet and sort of the anti-SomiSomi. I enjoy the light (some might say watery) texture of softserve with little or no stabilizers. From the scoops, salted caramel was a great. Scoop sizes were very small, but we’d still go back.
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IMO, the Samosa salad (and the sadly absent Tea Leaf) are the two consistently lovely dishes at Superstar. Depending on location and cook, the rest of the menu can vary. Glad you got to try one of them!
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What’s the buzz right now? Did they get some new press lately?
Next time, go straight to Battery Spencer on the Marin side of the bridge on a sunny day. That is in my opinion the best view of the bridge and SF. Easy parking too. The walkway on the bridge is also loud.
I like Tony’s too but their line is too long and the price is high. With all the great pizzas in town its quite difficult to make a case to go.
Next time skip their pastries and just get a loaf of their country at 5pm when they come out of the oven and get some cheese or ham etc to eat with it while its hot. I like their pastries but they are ‘good’. Their bread is a step above good.
Yes their plain croissants are very good.
Zareen’s is not bad but its hard to argue that they should be your first meal after flying across the country. There are just so many at the same level of Zareen’s around here…
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Yelp says Cheeseboard is the best!!! And you know Yelp isn’t wrong.
Zareens is maybe the third or fourth best Indian in palo alto. I love it for everyday casual but wouldn’t put it on a must visit list.
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Thank you for putting foodies in quotes. I have a vicious aversion to the term. “Anyone who calls themselves a foodie — aint”, is my saying.
I am negotiating this right now. I’ve got tickets to a theater thing (PianoFight?) tonight, and could not get the 4 of us going to agree on anywhere. That is, we COULD have agreed on some spots (I called Absinthe early, which would have been a centerpoint, and my companions who live in the upper height like Chez Maman and Monsour Benjamin which I would have happily eaten at), but all the easy choices are out of reservations. One companion has vicious fish allergies (throat closes up and grab the epipen dear; even this week attempted to eat at a mexican place who said that even their tortillas are made with fish broth, and refused to let them eat there, which limits exploration). We’re going with a choice I wouldn’t have done in a million years, and… we’ll see! “It’ll be an adventure”, and I understand the theater involves cocktails served at the seats. Company will be enjoyed.
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Izzys Brooklyn bagels in Palo Alto near the corner of California and El Cami o are considered the best down here. Get them before noon where they are still hot. There is usually a long line on weekends but it moves fast!
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What may this place be? Fish broth in tortillas?
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Sister and I are going to Monsieur Benjamin in a couple of weeks for her bday, can’t wait.
Where did you end up eating?
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Chao Pescao. Somewhere between yucatan and cuba. It was tasty enough but not enough to recommend.
The place that claimed to use fish in their tacos was Papito in Hayes valley.
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I enjoyed my recent meal at Chao Pescao–I think it’s a decent choice if you have business at Civic Center.
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